Elephant poaching on the rise, ivory seized

Neha Sinha, Indianexpress.com
Octpber 17, 2008

New Delhi, October 16 : In the first indications that this year’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) sanctioned legal trade in African Ivory is providing a fillip to clandestine elephant poaching in India, two separate ivory seizures in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, totalling around 16 kilos, are ringing alarm bells.

In its 58th Standing Committee meeting in July this year, CITES, the most authoritative word on trade in flora and fauna in the world, sanctioned the legal trade of 108 tons of government-owned ivory from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to China and Japan. The Indian delegation at CITES had at the time argued that such a move would put Indian tuskers at risk, by sending mixed signals to the poachers on the ‘legality’ of Ivory trade, a proposal which had been turned down.
Now, the ramifications seem to be hitting home. Last Saturday, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau in a Joint Operation with the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force and NGO Wildlife Trust of India seized 10 kilos of elephant molars and 250 grams of elephant tusk in Bijnore, adjoining the Amangarh area in Uttar Pradesh. Three people have been arrested related to the incident. On Wednesday, 5.9 kilos of ivory was seized by the state forest department from Laldhang division in Uttarakhand, close to Rajaji National Park. One person, a middleman, has been arrested.

Officials from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) point out that the poaching of elephant molars (back teeth) is a first time occurence and may signify a rise in the general trend of elephant poaching. “Taking out elephant molars is a very time consuming and laborious process. This means two things, firstly the elephant would certainly have been killed to remove molars, and secondly the poachers would have been very familiar with the routes taken by the elephants. This generally indicates a rise in poaching,” says